Thanks to the UC Natural Reserve System, Citizens Coordinate for Century III (C3), and the San Diego Audubon Society for partnering with ReWild Mission Bay for the first of our two Love Your Wetlands Day webinars this month, as we welcomed Dr. Lisa Stratton, director of ecosystem management with the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) at UC Santa Barbara, to talk about the center’s successful effort to restore and “rewild” a seaside golf course into 665 acres of restored wetlands at the mouth of Devereux Creek on the UCSB campus in Goleta.
Officially known as the Ellwood-Devereux Coast project, a collaboration between UCSB, the City of Goleta, and Santa Barbara County, the project is known today as the North Campus Open Space (NCOS) on the UC Santa Barbara campus.
Dr. Stratton talked about proposed development on the site that prompted the rewilding effort, shared vintage photos of the area before the native habitat was eradicated in 1967 for the installation of a golf course, the hand-planting of some 300,000 native plants by a dedicated team of students and volunteers, bringing neighborhood stakeholders on board, and consultation with Indigenous Chumash communities along the Central Coast regarding the project.
Special thanks to Heather Henter, executive director of the UC San Diego Natural Reserve System, and Ryan Karlsgodt, president of Citizens Coordinate for Century III, for their input, support, and remarks as part of our Feb. 9th presentation.